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Best practices: responding to your leads

 

Your website is more than just a digital brochure—it’s an essential extension of your physical shop. When a customer submits a lead through your website, you must treat that inquiry with the same urgency and personal attention you would give to someone standing directly at your counter.

If a customer walks into your shop, you would never tell them, "Give me your name, phone number, and email, and I’ll get back to you in a couple of days." They would immediately walk out the door and find a competitor who can provide the information they need now.

The same critical rule applies to online leads: The quicker you respond and the more information you provide, the more likely you are to win that deal, get the car in the bay, and maximize your return on investment (ROI).

Why Speed is the Secret Weapon

In the competitive world of auto repair and tire sales, minutes—not days—determine whether you secure a customer.

Imagine this scenario: A customer submits a lead and is looking for tires. If you wait nine days to respond, it's highly probable that they've already purchased tires elsewhere. By the time you send a personalized message, it’s too late.

However, if you can respond within minutes, you catch the customer while their need is still immediate. This level of responsiveness is what differentiates successful local shops from their competitors. One of our customers achieved a median response time of just 19 minutes, resulting in a remarkable 12X ROI on the leads they received through our platform! While large national chains often aim for around five minutes, a 19-minute response time is excellent and proves the massive benefit of prioritizing speed.

Turning Tire Tutor Leads into Appointments

The Tire Tutor platform is designed to make rapid lead response simple, providing you with all the tools needed to engage the customer instantly.

1. Immediate Notifications are Key

We can configure your system so that you receive email notifications and text notifications the moment a new lead is submitted. This ensures you know about the lead the second it arrives, allowing you to respond within minutes, not hours.

2. Manage Leads in the CRM

All incoming leads are automatically captured and organized within the Tire Tutor CRM under the Customers tab and the Leads section.

3. Personalized and Instant Action

When a new lead appears—for example, a lead from "Clark Kent" submitted just minutes ago—you can take immediate action:

  • Review the Need: See what service or product the customer is inquiring about (e.g., a tune-up).

  • Create the Offer: Send a quick, personalized message: "Hey, Clark, I see you need a tune-up. We'd love to see you at 11:00 on Wednesday."

  • Confirm and Engage: Hit Confirm. This instantly sends the message directly to the customer, and the system can automatically generate appointment reminders.

For users utilizing the POS integration, you can immediately follow up with a quick call to confirm the details, then create a formal estimate right then and there with just one click, and send it to the customer for approval.

The Bottom Line

Providing that extra bit of customer service and giving personalized, timely information for every lead is the fastest way to win more deals, make more money, and get more cars in your bays. Treat every online lead like your most valuable walk-in customer, and watch your sales climb.